On January 26, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources voted to fine two tour companies that cater to Chinese tourists $2,500 each for conducting commercial activities within the Mauna Kea forest reserve without a permit.
Dave Smith, administrator for the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife recommended that the board first fine Feng Yi Guo. He told the board that his division had sent her a cease-and-desist notice on December 5, 2017, after Office of Mauna Kea Management rangers documented her company’s vans taking customers to the Hale Pohaku area of the mountain on 19 occasions over a 90-day period. Even so, Smith said her company continued to bring people there.
“We just see this as a pattern of abuse. The place is just inundated with people,” he said, adding that DOFAW generally doesn’t allow commercial use in the forest reserve on Mauna Kea because the general public use is so high.
In her defense, Feng testified that her company tried 10 years ago to get a commercial use permit from the University of Hawai‘i, which manages the summit, to take tours to Mauna Kea. “We’ve been talking to them and talking to them. We don’t get any answers. We don’t get any straight answers why we don’t go up there,” she said.
She argued that her company vehicles only drive on the access road and do not go on any hills. She asked for photographic proof that they went on DLNR land.
“How do you know that we’re doing tours if our drivers stay in the bus, in the car, just like taxis?” she asked. “Did we actually do anything to jeopardize safety, jeopardize the environment? … We educate our customers. We do not want them to do anything wrong,” she added.
She also argued that her company provides a safe way for them to get around the island. “The Chinese people, they do not drive well. That’s a fact. … They don’t get any driving experience until 35 or early 40s,” Feng said.
In questioning Feng about her company’s practices, board members determined that at least in some instances, her company was parking at the University of Hawai‘i’s visitor center at around dusk, letting passengers walk up the cinder cone within the forest reserve, and waiting for them long enough for them to view the sunset.
“There is no sign that says people can’t go up the hill. If you don’t want people to go, you should put a sign or gate,” she said.
To Yuen, it was pretty clear her company was conducting commercial tours and he moved to approve DOFAW’s recommendation.
“I think a fair inference of the facts is the group is being taken on a sunset tour and taken to Hale Pohaku and being left to do something on their own,” he said.
For board member Keone Downing, the case highlighted the need to revisit the commercial tour permitting issue. “We’re coming to a situation where we’re worried about carrying capacity. At the same time, we’re allowing eight permittees to have their permits forever,” he said.
Maui board member Jimmy Gomes also said he felt for Feng, but in the end, the board voted unanimously to approve Yuen’s recommendation.
The second company DOFAW’s Smith recommended fining, Green Travel & Tour, was also believed to be conducting sunset tours, he said. And in that case, he said his division had a picture of one of its vehicles in the forest reserve.
Similar to Feng’s experience, Green Travel manager Chun Kai Huang said his company asked UH’s Office of Mauna Kea Management for a commercial use permit 15 years ago and didn’t exactly deny any illegal activity. He did suggest that penalizing tour companies wouldn’t relieve overuse. “If you have 500 vehicles going up to the mountain one time … why would you concentrate on tour companies? … You would end up with 450 [vehicles]. Is that so much different?” he asked.
With regard to the photo evidence, Chun said that was taken when one of his employees took some of his visiting relatives on a tour.
Yuen noted that DOFAW’s report indicated that rangers documented Green Travel in the forest reserve on four separate incidents in 2017, since a cease-and-desist notice was served.
To all of the calls made that day for new commercial use permits, board chair Suzanne Case said, “If you have been paying attention to the broader discussion, there should be further limits on vehicles, not more permits.”
Former Land Board member Rob Pacheco, whose tour company holds one of the OMKM’s eight commercial use permits for Mauna Kea, testified that some years ago, there was a proposal that the permits be cycled through, with those for the two lowest earners being put out to bid. But that proposal never went anywhere, he said.
He also complained that the DLNR’s “hierarchy of uses” policy — where natural resources come first, then public uses, then commercial uses — is flawed, especially when commercial tour guides are highly educated. Under the policy, “people can’t go into the Alakai [a sensitive natural area on Kaua‘i] who know what they’re doing,” he said, offering just one example. Even so, his company won’t go where it’s not permitted, he said.
“I’ve lost business from other tours … doing stuff in areas we don’t go to. That’s part of doing business and being pono in attempting to follow rules,” he said.
Smith said he agreed with Pacheco, at least with regard to Mauna Kea. “I think commercial might be the best way to go, but they need a permit. … We felt and continue to feel there are too many people. We need a master plan. Maybe commercial permits would be part of the mix,” he said.
With regard to the violation case, he continued, “this is probably the softest penalty possible. … Quite frankly, it’s not fair to the permitted folks .. if you’re only paying $2,500.”
Green Travel owner Dien-Jung Lin told the board, “$2,500 is not a big issue. The issue is, how long like this?” referring to the inability to bid on a permit.
“I think the tension is there are a lot of people that don’t want so many people on the mountain,” Case replied.
Still, Lin and Feng wanted a chance. Pacheco stated earlier in the board’s meeting that he pays $6 a head under his permit terms. “We could pay $10,” Lin said. To which Feng added, “We want to pay $15.”
In the end, Yuen moved to approve DOFAW’s recommendation, saying that there was enough evidence to support the allegation that at least one Green Travel tour in the forest reserve had taken place that was not explained by the employee’s family visit.
“We have evidence of a violation. Regardless of how good the character of the person, we have to treat it as a violation,” Yuen said before the board unanimously approved his motion.
— Teresa Dawson
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